This invention relates to a design evaluation system and more particularly, to a computerized design evaluation system which selectively evaluates certain proposed component and assembly designs by the use of certain information which has been acquired from a variety of sources and individuals and/or experts having a respectively high degree of knowledge in the design and development of these respective components and assemblies.
Computerized design systems, commonly referred to as xe2x80x9ccomputer aided design systemsxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cCAD systemsxe2x80x9d, generally allow many diverse types of components and assemblies, such as vehicular components and assemblies, to be efficiently designed and developed. Particularly, these systems include at least one computer terminal or display device which is operable under stored program control and which selectively allows a user to view and modify the component and/or assembly which is to be designed and developed. That is, the shape and geometric configuration of the component or assembly is displayed to the user and is allowed to be dynamically and pictorially modified, thereby allowing the user and/or designer to dynamically create a useful and desirable overall design. Typically, the user is given xe2x80x9ccomplete controlxe2x80x9d of the design process, thereby allowing the user to specify and modify each and every design value and/or parameter which is required to design and/or develop the component and/or assembly. Oftentimes the designer employs rules and/or guidelines which the designer has learned from the designer""s own personal experience or rules and/or guidelines which have been xe2x80x9chanded downxe2x80x9d or developed on an xe2x80x9cad-hocxe2x80x9d basis.
While these computerized design systems do allow for the design and development of various diverse types of components and assemblies, they do not generally ensure that proper design criteria or rules are adhered to by the designer and oftentimes increase the complexity and inefficiency of the overall design process by failing to note or warn the designer, especially a relatively inexperienced designer, of an error in the design or a violation of a certain design principle or guideline, thereby requiring the designer or user to create multiple iterations of the design in order to ensure the creation of a viable design.
Further, these computerized design and development systems do not typically xe2x80x9ccapturexe2x80x9d or include the various design rules and/or guidelines which are typically used by designers of a particular component or assembly, thereby preventing the user from gaining access to this valuable body of expert knowledge. This knowledge is particularly important to xe2x80x9cnewxe2x80x9d, relatively young, and/or relatively inexperienced designers who would greatly benefit from access to this body of expert knowledge. This drawback is all the more acute when one considers the great need for such designers which exists today and the concomitant great need to train such new design personnel.
There is therefore a need for a computerized design evaluation system which automatically reviews a proposed design of a component and/or assembly by use of contained guidelines, rules, and other information which is obtained from expert sources and which automatically provides the result of such a comparison and review to a user of the system. There is a further need for a computerized design evaluation system which automatically modifies and/or changes certain design parameters or variables based upon changes made to other design parameters or variables, effective to allow the overall design to properly adhere to certain design guidelines or rules.
It is a first object of the present invention to provide a computerized design evaluation system which may be used in combination with a computer aided design system and which addresses and which overcomes some or all of the previously delineated drawbacks of prior computerized design and development systems.
It is a second object of the present invention to provide a computerized design evaluation system which automatically reviews a design of a component and/or assembly by use of certain information previously obtained from expert sources.
It is a third object of the present invention to provide a computerized design evaluation system which allows errors within the design of a component or assembly to be relatively quickly and easily modified and corrected by the use of a certain first group of required equality relationships and by the use of a certain second group of required inequality relationships.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a system is provided for use in combination with a certain design of a component. The system includes a first portion which contains certain required equality relationships; a second portion which contains certain required inequality relationships; and a processor which receives the design and which evaluates the design by use of the certain required equality relationships and the certain required inequality relationships.
According to a second aspect of the present invention a method is provided for automatically identifying and correcting errors within a certain design of an assembly. The method includes the steps of creating a database of expert design guidelines; obtaining the design; and automatically comparing the design with the created database of expert information, effective to identify certain errors; modifying a first portion of the design, effective to correct the errors; and automatically modifying a second portion of the design in accordance with the modified first portion of the design.
These and other features, advantages, and aspects of the present invention will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention and by reference to the following drawings.